Nikolay Davydenko became the first Russian to win the year-end ATP World Tour Finals title after beating Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro 6-3, 6-4 at London’s O2 arena.
Davydenko finished runner up in this event last year when it was still held in Shanghai, China. This time he moved one step higher to hoist the championship trophy and pocket $1,510,000 in prize money. He’ll also end the year at number 6, overtaking Andy Roddick who had to skip this tournament due to injury.
“I was [looking at the trophy], until 2008, [there are] so many names there, like Djokovic, Federer, everyone, [Pete] Sampras. In 2009, [it says] Davydenko forever on this trophy. I think it’s amazing. [In the] history of the [Finals], for my name to be there is something amazing for me,” Davydenko said after the match.
Davydenko also achieved a rare feat in this tournament, beating all the Grand Slam title winners this season. In the round-robin stage, he defeated Australian Open 2009 champion Rafael Nadal, in the semifinals he outlasted French Open 2009 and Wimbledon 2009 champion Roger Federer and in the finals he defeated del Potro, the US Open 2009 winner.
Del Potro was gracious in defeat and looks forward to a more fruitful 2010 season.
“This tournament has a great champion, like Nikolay. He worked hard to beat every player here this week. So maybe I have to improve a little bit the little things. But he played much better than me, and that’s it. He played unbelievable tennis. He beat me in a good way,” the Argentine said.
